Tag Archives: Tour de Fance

Synopsis:

Reporter Miles Warde follows photographer Geoff Waugh during this year’s Tour De France. It’s the last stage in the Alps, on the twenty one bends of Alpe d’Huez, and Geoff Waugh has to find the best place to stand. Cycling photography is notoriously difficult – unlike most sports, the action is not contained to a stadium but spread out along a course over a hundred kilometres long. Geoff describes in gripping detail what it is like to hang off the back of a motorbike, large lenses flapping around, while following the race. We hear from the sun-crazed fans lining the course, and also capture Geoff at work as the main contenders, including Alberto Contador, come past. “It’s arms, legs, flags, motorbikes, noise, burning clutches – 250th of a second snippets.”.

Mark Cavendish‘s possible move to Great Britain’s Team Sky in 2012 has become more likely after confirmation of rumours that his current HTC-Highroad team will cease to exist at the end of this year, having failed to line up a new sponsor. The team head, Bob Stapleton, said that their coaches and athletes were free to pursue other options for next year.

Cavendish’s two key lead-out men, Bernhard Eisel and Mark Renshaw, were both still under contract with Stapleton’s Highroad company until 2013, but they will now be free to join Cavendish wherever he has chosen to ride next year. There is speculation that the directeur sportif, Brian Holm, may follow him, and it appears that the new Australian squad GreenEdge may have joined Sky as a possible destination for the Manxman.

“We had an agreement in place in principle with a new partner which would have given us enough funds to operate the team at the same level of the last four years. This deal abruptly collapsed on Sunday night,” Stapleton said. Further negotiation with HTC fell through on Wednesday, and a possible merger also collapsed. That comes in spite of the team’s successful Tour de France, with five stage victories and the green points jersey for Cavendish and a further stage win for Tony Martin.

Stapleton added that he was mystified by HTC’s unwillingness to continue backing his team. “We were frustrated by the indecision of our title sponsor HTC who, after many months of assurances, had not come forward with a commitment to the team. That indecision remains a mystery to me.”

In less than four full seasons in the sport, Stapleton’s team has won nigh on 500 races, including more than 50 stage wins in the Tours of Italy, France and Spain, and major Classics including wins in Milan-San Remo for Cavendish and the Australian Matt Goss. The squad were frequently ranked No1 in the world, all of which generated some $400m of publicity for its backers, who included the Columbia clothing company as well as phone makers HTC.

That makes the lack of any fresh sponsor hard to explain, although Stapleton said that repeated drug scandals involving major figures such as Alberto Contador were a factor. So too was the shaky structure of the sport, with a handful of big-budget teams – of which Sky would be an example – dominating the transfer market. Stapleton said on Thursday that his team was a “middle-budget” team who had punched above their weight.

Stapleton’s Highroad brand was first seen in the professional peloton at the start of 2008. The American had been brought in to relaunch the German T-Mobile squad after a wave of drug scandals, but was left high and dry when the telecom company pulled out at the end of 2007. Initially in 2008, the team raced with just the Highroad name on their jerseys before the Columbia clothing company appeared at the 2008 Tour. The rest was history, much of it made by Cavendish, but that history has just ended.

Article by William Fotheringham

What a spectacle, what a fantastic finish to an amazing tour! I wondered at first if I was just overwhelmed by the excitement because it is so long since I followed one this closely, but no, it was truly a brilliantly organised tour delivering suspense till the last day.

Mark Cavendish finished as perfectly as he could have wished this afternoon with a third straight victory on the Champs Elysées and the green jersey safely on his back.

In one burst that saw off Sky’s Edvald Boasson Hagen, Cavendish has become Britain’s first winner of the points jersey, as well as the first sprinter to win three times on the Champs Elysées. As if that were not
enough, his victory was also his 20th in the Tour de France, making him
the equal-sixth most prolific stage winner in the history of the race – at 26, it is a truly exceptional achievement, what a legend!

“I’ve been trying to get this for the last few years and it’s a super, super emotional day,” Cavendish said afterward. “I’ll keep coming back as long as my legs can keep coming back and I’ll keep trying to win as long as my legs can keep trying to win.”

When overall winner Cadel Evans stepped up to claim Australia’s first victory, it ended one of the longest quests for the yellow jersey that modern cycling has seen.

Tipped for greatness when he took the Tour of Italy lead in 2002 and held it until nine kilometres to go on the last mountain stage, Evans then had a decade-long series of misses that left him labelled as cycling’s nearly man.

The 2011 Tour though has been a different story altogether, Evans dodged the plentiful crashes that took out too many other contenders, and equally importantly played a perfect tactical game, hovering somewhere in contention without ever looking too threatening. Evans always reckoned, as he said on Saturday, on doing a strong final time trial, and his gamble came good as he ousted Shleck from yellow.

Cadel Evans, in a Shleck sandwich!

I can’t wait till next year! I think I’m going to pay close attention to the Tour of Britain in September as well! In all the time I’ve been writing this blog, I don’t think I’ve ever posted so much content in such a short amount of time! It feels good!

Well, what can i say!? I suppose it was inevitable after seeing the tables turn on stage 18 where Shleck reminded us of what he is capable of, and Contador looked to have all but given up. I guess i just wanted Voeckler to win because we all love to root for the underdog, he said it himself though on Thursday night though, and most nights before that, that he wouldn’t be wearing it in Paris. I honestly thought though that he’d broken the back of the Alps, being as yesterday was a much shorter stage in comparison to the previous days, but perhaps the accolade that winning the Alp D’Heuz stage affords was too much for the big guns to pass up! Like the commentators on ITV4 said last night though, hats off to the tour organisers for giving us an event that it still undecided with only two stages to go!

Contador attacked 16km into the stage as he sought to reduce his arrears, and continued to attack as the day wore on, unbelievable to watch after his performance the day before suggested he’d hung up his cleats for this tour. His efforts failed to gain enough time on Andy and Frank Schleck though on the 109.5-kilometre 19th stage from Modane Valfrejus to Alpe-d’Huez to making victory after the time-trial in Grenoble today an unrealistic ask. A valiant display of will in the face of so much controversy where he met the start of the tour to boos, he was greeted at the finish line yesterday with adulterous applause.

The Shlecks now top the general classification with Australian Cadel Evans in third place and tipped to take the yellow jersey before Sunday’s ride into Paris, but when interviewed post stage, he was non-commital and in fact said “I have been in this stage two times before, and two times before i have failed”. He didn’t come across well to the cameras, he wasn’t a happy chap!

Andy Schleck now holds a 53-second lead over his brother Frank Schleck in the overall rankings, with Australian Evans lurking 57 seconds behind, the trio all leapfrogging Voeckler, who finished 3:22 behind today in 20th and now sits fourth overall, 2:10 adrift.

It is Pierre Rolland we should be talking about though, what a day, and what a day for France. Apparently earlier in the stage, Voeckler leaned in to his lieutenant and told him “go for it Pierre, it’s over for me”. At this Pierre found his focus and commited to win the stage for Voeckler, for France, and for the White jersey on the infamous Alpe D’Huez, and that he did with Samuel Sanchez  second (sealing his bid for the king of the mountains), 14 seconds behind, and Contador another nine seconds further adrift. It was a great day for French cycling, their first stage win of this tour, and such an important one.

Not forgetting Cav, the points classification leader rolled in as part of a large group, 25:26 behind. The time limit was set at 25:09 and Cavendish and the rest of the grupetto were docked 20 points as they were the day before. The good news for Cavendish, though, was that his nearest rival Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) was also in the grupetto so the points penalty doesn’t affect his 15-point lead.

Looking forward to the time trial today, i reckon the race could still be won or lost in Paris, and so to could the maillot verde!

These stages in the Alps are just getting more and more exciting! Schleck may have complained that the final climb and descent into Pinerolo was “fatally dangerous” but that did not seem to bother Edvald Boasson Hagen and Team Sky, who road it with style!

Of course it may have helped that Tim Kerrison, the Sky conditioner and video analyst, filmed the ascent and played back the edited video to the team over dinner the night before and again on the bus during the drive to the stage start. The last stage in a campaign of well laid plans to win this stage that started months ago when the squad came out to Italy and spent a day riding the climb and ascent of Côte de Pramartino three times over!

The result was that Boasson Hagen could probly ride the Pramartino in his sleep, and he duly attacked at exactly the right place and descended perfectly on the downhill run that saw Voeckler and Hivert both end up in a car park next to a private house as they overshot a fast corner, Boasson Hagen made it look easy!

“I didn’t find the climb or ascent hard because I knew it well and I was on my own,” explained the Norwegian afterwards. “It might have been more difficult in a group but we had checked it out in training, rode it three times and watched the video as well. It was a great victory, just how we planned.”

Elsewhere, the big contenders all effectively marked each other, with Schleck still riding a clever race, giving it everything over the flattish final  three kilometres when he, Cadel Evans and Damiano Cunego reined in a   dangerous attack by Alberto Contador.

Mark Cavendish jumped out of the bunch to claim the single point   available, quite an effort for such meagre reward, but it had to be done, imagine crossing the line in Paris and finding you had lost the maillot verde by one point!

Today is Galibier day! A 124-mile run from Pinerolo to the Galibier summit which will take in three hors catégorie climbs – the Col Angel, the Col d’Izoard and the Galibier, which will constitute the highest finish in Tour history at 8,700ft. Can’t wait to get home and watch the highlights!!

They talked at length last night on the highlights about the skills of the downhillers, the likes of Hushovd and Cadel Evans specialists in this, both apparently from mountain biking stables. I didn’t know, and according to one of my mates, Evans is thought of pretty highly by Steve Peat, high praise indeed!

I guess this is why i always loved the mountains, it’s fast, scary fast, and incredibly dangerous. Riding DH with armour and a full face helmet is one thing, but hitting 120km/h on skinnies with only lycra as protection!? At least they have to wear lids now! In the post race interviews, Schleck criticised race organisers for the dangerous descent into Gap on Stage 16 after he lost more than a minute to GC rival Cadel Evans.

“Is this really what people want to see?” Schleck asked soon after the stage won by Thor Hushovd. “I think the parcours was really badly chosen today. We don’t want to see riders crashing or riders taking risks. Everybody has family at home, and finishes like this should not be allowed.”

Sounds like sour grapes to me, from a rider whose skills going down don’t match those of his rivals! That being said though, the incident in 2003 when Vinokourov was on the attack, with Beloki chasing him and Armstrong in tow, when Beloki went down on the same descent into Gap, and Armstrong had to go off course and rejoin the group on the next hairpin, proves just how dangerous a descent it is!

To add to the excitement of watching these guys hurtle down the descent, with Hushovd leading a one man break away, suddenly, from out of nowhere, Contador kicks hard and is gone! The top men all riding close to each other are caught completely by surprise, but Voeckler got right on the gas and hung in there, good lad! Contador surged out of the pack on the mid-grade Col de Magne climb, and held on through the treacherous downhill to the finish of the 101-mile stage.

“I knew I needed to attack,” Contador said. “I couldn’t care less if someone kept on my wheel — I knew one of them would fail. I’m so happy. It has been a major gap, much bigger than I expected.” The Spaniard pulled back more than a minute on Andy Schleck, known for his ability to climb but who on this occasion couldn’t keep up on the relatively easy final ascent.

Schleck conceded he was “disappointed,” but that “there are other chances to take back time.” His biggest ally — his older brother and Leopard Trek teammate Frank Schleck — said they hadn’t foreseen the attack.

It was Cadel Evans day though, he ultimately reeled in Hushovd, after battling with multiple Tour de France winner Contador on the 9.5km second category Cold de Manse climb before taking time out of the Spaniard in the final race to the finish. His outstanding ride saw him leapfrog Frank Schleck, reduce his deficit to overall leader Thomas Voeckler and also to the likes of Contador, Ivan Basso and Andy Schleck

“I wasn’t expecting so much on the climb. I was more prepared for things on the downhill actually because its a little bit dangerous and so on,” Evans said post race.

“Last year I came and I had a broken arm and we had the finish here. It scared me. This I year got in front alone and followed the moves.”

“The guys – George (Hincapie) and ‘Burgy’ (Marcus Burghardt) got me in the right position, right at the bottom of the last climb.”

“I just had to play my cards as they came out. It’s still a bit of a blur right now … (but) it was a good little move and a good day.”

Looking forward to more mountain mayhem!

Thomas Voeckler writes off chances as Alps beckon. If the race leader can hold off his rivals over the next six stages France will have its first home winner since 1985.

The guy is so humble!

Without Wiggins, he’s my man! Totally rooting for the guy now, but i don’t see why he can’t hold his own in the Alps after the grit he showed in the Pyranees, just because he folded under Armstrong’s might 7 years ago.

“I have not the slightest chance,” Voeckler himself said on the eve of Monday’s rest day, after being zipped into the jersey for the seventh evening in a row. “Zero per cent. But I will fight, for sure.”

Sounds a little defeatist, perhaps it doesn’t translate that way in his own mind, he’s quite a character. The 32-year-old leader of the humble Europcar team has been playing down his chances ever since a bold and sustained attack during stage nine, from Issoire to Saint-Flour, took him to the top of the general classification. He was bound to lose the leadership in the Pyrenees, he claimed, because he was not a climber.

Instead he defended the jersey with style, countering attacks from the Schleck brothers, Ivan Basso and Cadel Evans on the epic climbs to Luz-Ardiden and the Plateau de Beille.

The memory of losing the maillot jaune to Armstrong in the Alps all those years ago, according to David Millar, the Garmin-Cervélo rider, may be the reason people are underrating his chances right now.

“There are preconceptions because he’s already lost the yellow jersey in the mountains,” Millar said on Monday. “But if it was any other rider who had done what he has just done in those two stages, defending the yellow jersey with strength in the highest mountains, you would say, ‘This guy can win the Tour’.

“It’s one of those classic sporting moments where we are basing an assessment of his future performance on his past results, when actually he seems to be doing something that merits more respect.

“Don’t forget he was attacking in the first week. He wasn’t saving energy. The day he took the yellow jersey he was attacking off the front and the other big guys were just sitting in. He is not going to weaken now. If you are defending like that on stage 14 and 15, it means you are going to keep it up until the end. Now it is up to everyone else to shake him.”

I hadn’t realised until reading some of the news today that Voeckler’s Europcar team, known until last year as Bbox Bouygues Telecom, have possibly the smallest budget of any of this year’s Tour outfits. After relegation from the ProTour series they now compete in Europe’s second division events, and owe their presence in the Tour de France to a wild-card system that favours home-owned teams.

It is no accident, Millar says, that the top riders are grouped together going into the last week of the Tour, or that the speed of the leading riders is going down from the days of the “two-speed Tours”. Voeckler and his closest rivals, for instance, took almost three and a half minutes longer to climb to the Plateau de Beille on Saturday than Marco Pantani took 13 years ago.

“There is no doubt that it’s cleaner,” Millar said. “The highest guys are at a similar level because there are no big secrets out there. Once you have the 20 best in the world all eating the same thing, drinking the same thing and doing the same recovery, they are going to perform at a similar level and it is going to become very tactical. And tactically, Voeckler is very clever.

“A lot can happen in the Alps, but I would put him on the podium at the moment, for sure. He is an incredible bike rider and I hope this Tour de France will give him the respect that he does deserve.”

Can’t wait for the Alps!

Extreme Photo of the Week — National Geographic.